Whether you want to coach people in person, online or a combination of both, Katrina Southey of FITR argues that you should consider adding an element of online coaching to your business. Here are ten reasons why you should consider coaching online:
- TIME
- GEOGRAPHY
- TRACKING
- SCALE
- AUTOMATION
- CONVENIENCE
- COMMUNITY
- SIMPLICITY
- PERSONALISATION
- COMMUNICATION
- There are only so many hours in the day
Even if you work 10 hours a day, seven days a week, there is a ceiling on how much you can earn, and how many people you can help, during working hours. Many personal trainers either enjoy the flexibility of managing their own schedules or are seeking a better work-life balance. Using personal trainer software such as FITR to deliver training remotely means that fitness coaches can automate programme delivery, performance tracking and business admin so their business can keep working while they sleep, and they can use their waking hours more wisely.
- You can only physically be in one place at a time
Travelling between clients or to and from work can be tiring and uses up valuable time. It also restricts your earning capacity by limiting the number of clients you have access to at any one time. By offering your services to clients remotely, you can train anyone, from anywhere, at any time.
You can also provide additional sessions to clients you see in person to complete in their own time. This is particularly beneficial for clients who have a real appetite for following your training or nutrition plans, but can’t necessarily afford to see you three times a week. Perhaps they only come into town two days a week and work from home the rest. Providing additional remote sessions will only help improve their progress and, in turn, their likelihood to stay with you.
- Clients are motivated by performance tracking
Clients come to you because they need you to help them get results. It’s great to be able to show them before and after photos and track measurements, lifts and speeds, etc… but without personal training software, it can be hard work tracking and presenting these in a meaningful way.
Even if you only coach clients in person, it’s a great idea to have a place to host a digital profile for your clients where you can track their performance and results. Not only does this help you be a better coach by quickly understanding what is and isn’t working for your client, but it’s incredibly encouraging for them to see graphs moving in the right direction as a result of their investment in you and your service.
- You can use your skills to help more people at the same time, without increasing your workload
Do you find yourself using similar programmes for similar clients? Do you have clients who would benefit from training with others to support motivation or their competitive spirit?
Using personal training software, you can create one programme that is followed by more than one person, automatically personalising weights and distances for each individual. This allows you to coach multiple clients for the same effort as coaching one, and provides the clients with the benefit of training alongside their peers.
- Time can be saved on business admin and invested in doing more of what you love
No matter the industry, most of us hate the admin side of running our own businesses. It’s fiddly, time-consuming and gets in the way of time spent on actually making a difference to people’s lives.
Using technology means you can automate basic but time-consuming administrative tasks such as payments and programme access, freeing up time for you to use elsewhere.
- It can be more convenient for both you and your clients
Offering online coaching means that clients can access training whenever and wherever they want to. They can keep up their training on holiday, catch up on sessions when they can’t get into town, or be able to remain a client of yours even if they move away.
On the flip side, you can programme wherever you are, whenever you like too. It’s up to you, whether that means feeding back on your clients’ progress when the kids have gone to bed, or making tweaks to your clients’ programming from a sun lounger in Bali.
- Your client community can be extended beyond gym walls
In the wake of the pandemic, clients crave community more than ever before. This has meant that they have flocked back into training spaces. This is great for in-person training, but why stop there?
Adding an online arm to your business means you can keep the community vibe going beyond the hours spent in the gym. Your clients can cheer each other on, strike up healthy competition, ask questions, or arrange social events, all from the same platform they use for their training.
- Personal training software is cost effective and simple to use
You don’t need to be a coder to use personal training software: the best technology has been created to be simple to use. You should be able to market your business, add clients, create programmes and automate admin with ease as everything has been pre-built for you.
Look for a plan that supports the size of the business you are, and the size of business you hope to become. Choose a platform that has transparent costs so you don’t get any surprises. Get extra professional points if you can customise the offering so it looks like your own.
- Online coaching can be as personal as you want it to be
Hopefully it goes without saying that you can personalise your service to an individual client online, but there are a lot of other personal touches you can take advantage of too.
You can automate messages to your clients to make them feel seen, such as wishing them a happy birthday, congratulating them on a PB or celebrating a training streak. You can upload personal video messages to introduce sessions or leave feedback, carefully tailor their training and nutrition, regularly check in on progress and monitor how they feel.
If you’d rather be hands off, that’s fine too and personalisation can be automated – but choosing to offer services online is not the same as choosing to lose the personal element of personal training.
- You can enhance client communication, with yourself and each other
With online coaching, you’re only ever one click away from communicating with your clients. You can make remote training feel personal through 1-2-1 messaging, community chat, mentions, commenting and more. You can speak to clients directly, or get involved as they progress through your training and log their performances in the Client App.
You can send video messages or text to individuals or groups, and keep your Whatsapp clear for personal use. With training, results and messages in one place it’s so much easier to keep track of everything!
Listen to Katrina Southey in the FitPro webcast talking about how to set as an online PT
Try coaching online yourself with a free trial of the FITR app
Katrina Southey is the CMO at FITR, a market leading Personal Trainer Software, where she has led its global marketing initiatives for over 2 years – driving monthly revenue up by 400%. With a wealth of experience spanning a decade in the fitness industry, Kat has played pivotal roles in shaping the marketing strategies of prominent organisations including Virgin Active, Science in Sport, and PhD Nutrition.
